Friday 26th February 2010
Portugese Liga
Leiria 0-1 Guimaraes
Attendance: 1,373
Considering this game was 5th versus 6th in the top flight of Portugese football, the crowd was a paltry 1,373. This goes to show the apathy in this country when Benfica, Sporting or Porto are not involved.
Maybe i'm being harsh because the game was live on TV and the weather was appalling, it rained for the entire game, but just over a 1,000 in 23,000 stadium is pretty dire.
However, the game was entertaining enough, especially the second half. The winner came through an Andrezinho penalty on 65 minutes. The keeper was sent off after conceding said penalty and the game was held up whilst players, coaches and referee argued the point. This led to whopping 9 minutes of stoppage time at the end.
The homesters had a couple of good chances to level but failed to take them. Guimaraes were sitting back on their lead and playing on the break. This led to at least 2 on-on-one chances which would've made the scoreline more comfortable.
Nice ground, even though it was only three-sided, but it felt quite strange with so few people inside such a large venue.
Thursday 25th February 2010
Europa League Round of 32 Second Leg
Sporting Lisbon 3-0 Everton (Agg 4-2)
Attendance: 17,609
Another chance to visit a top European venue, just a shame it was so soon after my last visit to Lisbon.
I'm sure many of you witnessed this debacle on television. All I can say is that to me it looked like Everton were sent out to play for a goalless draw and f*ck*d it up big time (why the negativity Moyes?). Another European journey ending in an embarrassing defeat to, quite frankly, poor opposition as Sporting overturned a 2-1 first leg deficit with goals from Miguel Veloso (64) Pedro Mendes (77) and Matias Fernandez (90).
Speaking to a few Sporting fans prior to the game, even they thought they were going to be pasted, hence the low crowd turnout of just over 17,000. With this defeat, the planned trip to Athletico Madrid in the next round vanished in the Lisbon night sky
The only bright spot was the return of Phil Jagielka after nearly a year out with injury, he got a tremendous welcome from the travelling blues when he came on as a second half substitute.
Tuesday 23rd February 2010
Isthmian League Division One South
Whyteleafe 5-2 Mertsham
Attendance: 109
Sometimes in this fantastic hobby the hopping gods smile on you!!
After options 1,2 & 3 bit the dust due to torrential rain, a phone call to Whyteleafe confirmed this game was ON and what an absolute corker in turned out to be! Every time either side attacked it could have been a goal. As it was it was 3-2 to Whyteleafe at half time, after coming from 2-1 down.
The second half was never going to be as open but a goal on 53 minutes and 90 minutes made it comfortable for the homesters. Mertsham did have their moments but 'leafe held out for a comfortable win.
Darren Watson (5) Danny Oakins (31) Jason Goodchild (38) Chris O'Flaherty (53) and Kieron McCann (90) were the Whyteleafe scorers, whilst Wes Goggin (8) and Billy Marshall (15) responded for Mertsham.
It was great to visit Church Road this evening as not only was it a cracking game, the locals were very friendly and welcoming, it also 'exorcised' the ghost of not visiting for an FA Cup tie in 1999 with Chester City.
Monday 22nd February 2010
Southern League Division 1 South & West
Gosport Borough 0-1 VTFC
Attendance: 284
I was very grateful this match was on after a long journey down south! An early phone call indicated that the game would go ahed but there were no guarantees until the referee had inspected the pitch at 5pm. I had to be on the road long before that and I was so glad my gamble to travel paid off.
It was a entertaining game in which VT dominated the first half. Borough were fortunate to be just the one goal down. VT looked a yard quicker and missed numerous chances to extend the lead given to them after 20 minutes by Paul Sales. One of these chances included a penalty miss, in which Boro 'keeper Matt Willshire saved a Lee Bright effort.
Borough closed down VT a lot better in the second half and had most of the possession but they rarely threatened with it. The visitors comfortably seen the game out. However the game ended on a sour note when in the final minute Sales was carried off with what looked like a serious injury.
